EA Sports Preps Fall Release Of Online Game From Tiger Franchise
By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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Online "Tiger Woods PGA Tour" Effort Marks
EA Sports' First Game Explicitly For Web Use |
EA Sports this fall will release an online version of "Tiger Woods PGA Tour," marking its first significant step into browser-based gaming. The online version of the popular golf title will be sold as a stand-alone product from its physical counterpart, and is designed for shorter-form play, with users able to easily pause rounds and resume them at another point on any other computer. While EA Sports, like many videogame publishers, has enjoyed significant success in online gaming as an adjunct of its console-based titles, the Tiger Woods effort marks its debut into a game that is designed and sold explicitly for Web browser-based use. The physical version of "Tiger Woods PGA Tour" sold nearly 2 million copies last year, but EA believes a far wider audience can be attracted to the game, and others being developed, in the online forum. "This is a big priority for us,” said EA Sports Associate Producer Greg Rinaldi. “We recognize what’s been going on elsewhere in the industry with things like 'World Of Warcraft,' massive multi-player games online, Facebook-based casual gaming and so forth. We see a lot of upside, and we felt the 'Tiger Woods' experience particularly translated well to online in a way that made it a good candidate for our first effort in this space.” Specific pricing and release schedules have not yet been determined for "Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online." But EA Sports is developing a multi-tiered subscription plan to sell the title. The game additionally will have an extensive array of social networking features, building upon the GamerNet functions built into the physical version two years ago. Virtual goods, such as improved equipment to use in the game, will also be sold in "Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online."
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